Footage of Police Shooting That Killed 1-Year-Old Kohen Wiley Made Public
Footage of the police shooting that killed 1-year-old Kohen Wiley in Mississippi has been made public, days after the state's attorney general said the officer's force was justified.
Attorney General Lynn Fitch announced on October 19 that the force used in the shooting was justified, according to PBS NewsHour. The attorney general's finding covered the Senatobia Police Department.
Kohen was killed on June 14 during an officer-involved shooting at a Walmart in Senatobia, Mississippi, according to WLBT. Officers responding to an alleged shoplifting call fired into a vehicle carrying his mother, Vellesiya Wiley, and her friend, Latoya Ferrell. Initial reports said the call alleged that Wiley and Ferrell had stolen a pack of diapers. Ben Crump, one of the family's attorneys, said neither woman was ever arrested for shoplifting.
The released material includes body-camera and surveillance video of the confrontation in the Walmart parking lot leading up to the shooting, according to The New York Times. Darkhorse Press, a Mississippi outlet, first reported that the footage had been made public.
Crump and fellow attorney Van Turner represent the Wiley family. On Thursday, October 22, they held a press conference at the Senatobia Church of Christ in Senatobia, Mississippi. Family members had viewed the footage shortly before the event, and the lawyers are calling for a federal investigation into the shooting, according to The Guardian.
Kohen's maternal grandmother is Veronica Roberson, and his paternal grandmother is Lasandra Williams. November 1 would have been Kohen Wiley's second birthday.
